Aura Release
by GeneicCode
Summary: A teen lives his home island in search of adventure, fun, and most importantly, vengeance. To do all of this and more, he takes the Hunter Exam


**I'm just going to say this now to get it out of the way, this takes place in the 2011 anime universe. This means that everything after Greed Island happened in this story, however the Dark Continent Expedition arc, as well as everything that may come after it in the future, never did. Just letting you know.**

"You're sure you want to do this?" my trainer, as well as my uncle, asked.

"Well, yeah." I said. "This island's pretty cramped. I want to get out in the world, this is just an easier way of doing it."

My trainer just grinned. "You never will change, will you?"

I shrugged, as I walked onto the ship. The ship was going to drop me, along with many others, off at Dolle Harbor, from which I would be required to find the location of the Hunter Exam.

"Take care, Dylan!" my uncle shouted, waving as the ship left the port.

"You too, Uncle Gon!" I waved back. We continued to wave at each other until my home island, Whale Island, left my field of view.

After a while of staring at the open ocean, I turned around and saw a table had been brought out. On top of the table, I noticed two hands gripping each other, each pushing against the other to make an attempt at pushing their opponent's hand onto the table.

"Hey kid, you wanna join in?" I heard someone ask.

It took me a moment to realize they meant me. "Oh, no thanks." I said, as a man with a lot of evident muscles slammed someone else's hand into the table, using enough force to chip the top off. "I wouldn't say I have good enough upper body strength to deal with that."

It wasn't a complete lie. I had superior physical strength than most other kids at the age of 15, but the majority of that was in my legs. That's not to say my arms were practically noodles, but compared to my legs, it's like comparing a car to a tank.

"Oh, come on." the winner of the arm wrestle said, playing with his fingers. "Just one round."

I opened my mouth in protest, but then sighed as I realized that wasn't going to work. "Alright, fine. Let's get this over with."

I walked up to the table, rested my right elbow on top of it, and grabbed the man's right hand with my own.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you." the man said. He was bald, and appeared to be a little over 6 feet tall, although it was hard to tell with him sitting on the floor. He wore a black undershirt with nothing over it, as well as camp cargo pants.

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing." I said, as the two of us grinned at each other.

Then I felt pressure in my hand. It wasn't enough to make me struggle a lot, but it did push my hand back a few inches before I recovered.

"Not bad." I said, moving my right hand to the left, taking his hand with me, using very little effort. However, his face suggested otherwise. "You managed to nudge me a little while I wasn't paying attention."

My opponents went from a struggling face to a mischievous, grinning one. "The same could be said about you."

I raised an eyebrow, as directly before his hand made contact with the table, he lifted my hand up, and brought it straight to the middle, where I abruptly stopped it.

"I'm gonna admit, not the worst idea I've seen." I said, gently lowering his hand back down on the table. "Had I not been training non-stop for the past few years with my uncle, that might have worked."

The man just stared at me. He was clearly mad that some kid half his age just beat him without breaking a sweat.

I stood up from the table, and extended my hand. "Name's Dylan." I said.

The man stared at my hand, and, begrudgingly, took it. "I'm Jenga." he said.

"Jenga, huh?" I said. "I feel like I've heard that name before..."

"Yeah, I'm a combatant on one of Heaven's Tower's lower floors." Jenga said. "I'm tough, but I'm not Floor Master material yet."

"I have no idea what any of those words meant." I said. "Maybe tell me a bit more after the exam."

"Exam?" Jenga asked, surprised. "You're taking it too!?"

I looked at him, quizzically. "Is that really so surprising? Why else would I be going to Dolle Harbor on my own?"

"Well, it's just..." Jenga said. "Aren't you only, like, 14?"

"I'm 15, actually." I said. "My dad wasn't much older when he got his licence, I think maybe 17 or 18."

"Then why not wait that long?" Jenga asked. "If you're trying to make him proud, you could just get it at... well, any age."

"I'm not trying to impress him." I said. "You can't impress the dead."

"Oh, sorry for your loss." Jenga said, looking down.

I looked at him, grinning. "It's fine, it was over 10 years ago. I was old enough to remember, sure, but pain doesn't stick with you in the long run."

"... You're messed up, Dylan." Jenga said. "Like, you don't feel any sadness or anger or anything?"

"Guess some of my Uncle's positive spirit and optimism rubbed off on me." I said, still with a smile on my face. "Maybe a little bit too much."

Jenga sighed. "Who knows?"

"However, since you asked, I do have a little leftover pain." I said, looking over the edge of the ship and clenching my fist, causing him to study me. "Not because of his death, no, but because of what his killer took from his cold, dead corpse with his bare, bloody hands."

"Alright, alright. We shouldn't talk about this too much." Jenga said, noticing that my anger was driving me insane.

I looked at him with a dark expression, which I brightened up instantly. "Sorry about that, I guess I get carried away sometimes. How about you? Why are you taking the exam?"

"Money." Jenga said. "I get a lot at Heaven's Tower, but it never really feels like enough. I figured becoming a Hunter might fix that."

"Well, it's not guaranteed that becoming a Hunter will get you more cash, you know." I said. "Only if you do jobs, and only some jobs will give you a lot."

"I could always sell the license." Jenga said.

"Yeah, but then you'd lose all of the benefits it gives you." I said. "Like free travel and discounts on stuff from certain places."

"That kind of invalidates your first point." Jenga said. "Why get more money if everything's cheaper anyways? I'll be saving a lot of money if I don't need to spend as much."

"Well... Uh..." I stuttered. "Alright, you have a point there."

"I know I do." Jenga said, putting on a smug grin. "You never told me why you're taking the exam, by the way."

"... You picked up on that, huh?" I asked, as I put my arm back on the table. "Here's an idea; beat me in an arm wrestle and I'll tell you."

Jenga's grin quickly dropped into a small frown. "So you have essentially no intention of telling me?"

"Pretty much." I said. "Although that doesn't mean I won't if you beat me."

Jenga sighed, as he put his arm on the table and got a good grip on my hand. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

His face was much more serious than the first time, and the air around him felt a lot different as well.

"The hell are you planning?" I asked.

"Don't take offense to this, but I held back in the first round." Jenga said, closing his eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you since you looked like such a weak little kid."

"So you're not going to hold back this time?" I asked.

"Nope." Jenga said, shooting his eyes open. They were a lot more fierce than the first time. "I'm going all out on this one."

Before I knew what happened, he zipped my hand down to my side of the table. I only managed to stop the force an inch off the table, and I used a fairly large amount of my strength to do it.

"Jeez, you might have been able to hold back a LITTLE on that one!" I exclaimed.

"I still am." Jenga said, still keeping a straight face. "The rest of my strength just hasn't come to me yet."

Before I could ask what he meant, I realized he was slowly moving my arm down to the table. Before I could fully react, however, my knuckle tapped the table.

"Looks like I win." Jenga said. He didn't show any emotion in those words.

"How the hell did you hide strength like that?" I asked.

"I just didn't use it." Jenga said, standing up and walking away.

"Wait, didn't you want to know why I was here?" I asked.

Jenga stopped, and turned back to face me. "I wouldn't call that a win on my part, not if I had to use that to achieve it." he said. "You just seemed like you would keep bugging me until I somehow managed to beat you."

"'That'?" I asked.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go take a nap while I wait for my body to start behaving properly." Jenga said, as he continued walking away.

"Hang on, what the hell is 'that'!?" I shouted after him. He just pretended not to hear me. "I guess I'll have to ask him later."

 **12 HOURS LATER**

I wandered around the outside of the ship, with nothing better to do. I wasn't tired enough to fall asleep, I wasn't awake enough to run around. I was also fairly hungry, that may have had some relation to one of the other two, I wasn't sure which. I looked over the edge of the railing on the ship, just looking at the ocean.

"Oi, you there!" I heard someone call out. "What're you doin' out 'ere!?"

I turned to see the captain of the ship, who was staring right at me. He had a grey, messy beard, along with a big nose and grey eyes. Atop this head of his lay a black hat with a golden ship's wheel. He wore a black and white striped t-shirt with a black hoodie over it, along with jeans.

"Couldn't sleep." I said. "That an issue?"

"Well if you want to do good in your exam, you may think twice about staying up."

"Exam?" I asked. "How did you know about that?"

"Oh, most of the people here are here for the exam, you see." the captain said. "Even that young lad you made such a bond with, Jenga."

"'Bond' is a bit of a stretch." I said. "He asked questions, I answered. I asked questions, he answered."

"I'm just surprised how much you shared with him." the captain said, hopping on the railing, and patting down the seat next to him, inviting me up. "What happened to him, anyways?"

"I'm not sure, he just walked away, showing no emotion whatsoever." I said, climbing up to join him.

"That may be a condition, you probably don't need to worry about that." the captain said. "Anyways, I was referring to your father."

"Oh, that." I said. "There isn't much to share. Someone came to take what wasn't theirs, and they got away with it."

"And... you're okay with this?" the captain asked.

"Oh no, not at all, and believe me, I intend to pay them back in full what they deserve." I said. "But whether or not I can depends on whether or not I find them again."

"As well as whether or not you're strong enough for them." the captain said.

"Why do you think I'm here?" I asked. "I figured going up against some people could help me get stronger."

"Hmm... You seem like how my father described him." the captain said.

"I'm sorry?" I said.

"Your father." the captain said. "If he's who I think he is, my father told me a lot about him."

"Oh really?" I asked. "You must have the wrong guy. I think I'm much more like my uncle than I am like my father."

"No, there's definitely some similarities." the captain said. "Maybe you're just not seeing them."

I laughed. "I still think you're thinking of the wrong guy."

"Believe what you want, but it could be right." the captain said. "You even have that ferocity in your eyes buried deep within."

"Your dad must have been quite the weird person to be looking into people's eyes so intently."

"Oh no, this man's ferocity wasn't buried as deep as yours is." the captain said. "It was as if one small thing could set him off."

"How do you know that without being there?" I asked.

"One of the other people going to take the exam set him off." the captain explained. "I was told it wasn't as big of a deal as he made it out to be, but my father never told me what he said."

"Nah, that doesn't sound li-" I started, before I looked towards the front of the ship. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Hm?" the captain hummed, turning his head to look where I was looking. In our lines of vision lay millions of raindrops falling at an alarming rate, two pillars of clouds spinning rapidly, and the occasional white Crack in the sky, which quickly vanished after it appeared. "Hoo boy, that'd be a storm there."

"Should we change course?" I asked.

The captain shook his head. "We're on a tight schedule, sonny. Now, I suggest that if you don't want to be struck by lightning, or the far more likely possibility, fall off the boat, I would suggest you get to sleep."

"Yeah, like that's happening." I said. "Lightning never bothered me anyways. I hate water, though. I'm fine inside of it, but once I'm out my body feels so heavy."

"Well if you're planning on staying out, help around the ship." the captain said. "There's tons of sails that need constant maintenance."

"Why sails, by the way?" I asked. "Why not a steam boat?"

"Just do it." the captain said, pointing to one of the sails. "Make sure it doesn't burst or fall over or whatever."

"It doesn't sound as important when you put it like that." I mumbled, jogging over to the sail. I stood there, staring ahead at the coming storm, which appeared to be getting larger every second... No, that wasn't it. We were just getting closer. A lot closer.

"It's approaching pretty quick." the captain said. "You sure you don't wanna back out there?"

"Why would I?" I asked. "It's not like I'm in any more danger than I would normally be in any Hunter-like situation."

"Well prove it." the captain said, as dark clouds loomed above us, and thunder sounded all around us as lightning cracked the sky. "And do a favour... Keep my crew safe, alrighty?"

I smiled, as well as nodded. "I'll do my best."

The captain nodded in agreement, as he walked away.

I spent most of my time leaning against the sail. I nearly fell asleep, thinking nothing bad would happen.

That didn't last very long.

A large wave rose from the ocean, attempting to devour the starboard side of the ship. It was a slow enough wave that everyone could get away, however...

"AGH!" I heard someone scream, followed by a large thump. "MY ANKLE!"

The wave was just about to crash into the boat as I got in the way, blocking it from hitting the person on the ground. "Are you alright?"

Before I could get an answer, I felt a huge pain directly on my back, right in the center of my spinal cord. It spread throughout my body, and remained there as I bent myself over backwards, curling my arms towards me. The pain kept going and increasing, I wasn't sure how long it was going to last. I just closed my eyes and waited for it to be over.

"Hold as still as you possibly can." I heard someone. Before I could even try to ask what he went, I felt an intense force enter through my back, and I felt as if something inside of me was opened... No, it felt like a lot of things opened. Slowly but surely, my pain began to dissipate. I slowly began to uncurl myself, and as I stood up, I noticed what appeared to be steam rising off of my body, along with bits of water that appeared to be carrying some electricity in them.

"Keep it contained." the voice said to me. I looked at who was talking.

"Jenga?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Keep. It. Contained." he repeated. "Focus on storing it in your body."

I opened my mouth to complain, but I decided against it, deciding instead to try to bring all of the steam inside. It was slow, finding the method to begin storing it, but once I knew the technique, it went along a lot quicker.

"I'll explain it all later." Jenga said, before walking away. "Until then, don't tell anyone about this."

I wondered what to say, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I turned to the person I saved.

It was a girl. She had curly, brown hair, and a soft face. She looked to be about 20, maybe 25. I grinned at the thought.

She'd kill me if she knew I thought that.


End file.
